Only HalfHuman
by Oi-Watch-It-Spaceman
Summary: Everything's been going well for Rose and the Doctor in Pete's World - until Rose wakes up in the middle of the night and finds the Doctor crying... COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

**Well this is my first story that I've actually known is going to have more than one chapter - not exactly the most exciting of beginnings, but there will be angst and romance coming up, I promise!**

It must have been about half one in the morning when Rose woke up freezing cold. The heating in her flat was rubbish, when she had first moved in she had barely been able to sleep through the night. But she had adjusted. Just as she had adjusted to sleeping in a room that wasn't on a spaceship, to not having that comforting hum lull her to sleep, to knowing that there was not a room just down the corridor where a skinny alien was tinkering away at some sort of machine, waiting for her to awake so that they could be off adventuring again.

It had been a few weeks since Rose had been cold in bed. In fact, if she wanted to be really specific, Rose could say that it was exactly 3 weeks and 4 days since she had woken up shivering with her duvet wrapped around her. 3 weeks and 4 days since the Doctor had wandered past her room in the middle of the night, seen her shivering and slipped inside, lifting the corner of her duvet and settling himself on her bed. It had been a week since Bad Wolf Bay and the Doctor had been staying in Rose's spare room, more out of awkwardness than anything else (a trait which Rose actually found quite adorable in him), and because neither one was quite sure what was going to happen next, or who was going to make the first move.

Rose, for her part, had barely woken up when the Doctor slid into bed next to her. She merely turned over and snuggled into him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head against his bare chest as though it was the most natural thing in the world. It had seemed as though this was completely natural to the Doctor. This new human body was slightly warmer than his complete Time Lord one had been, but it also needed more warmth than it had before, and the Doctor was grateful to have Rose's warmth so close to him. He had questioned whether or not it was his human side appearing, being brave enough to sleep in Rose's bed with her when he would never have dreamed of doing that before. (Well, he had actually dreamed of doing that quite a few times, which was surprising considering how little he slept, but he chose not to think of that right now.)

The Doctor kept very still, arms wrapped tightly around Rose, listening to the sound of her slow, steady breathing. The room was very cold, but each found comfort in the other's warmth, and soon both human and half-human-Time Lord were fast asleep.

And so it had happened every night for the past 3 weeks and 4 days. The Doctor and Rose, sleeping together (though not in that way, Rose thought almost bitterly as she swung her legs out of bed and pulled on her dressing gown.) Until tonight, when Rose had woken up not only freezing, but also without the comforting weight of the Doctor beside her on the mattress, the feel of his arms around her or the soft sound of his breathing.

After delicately placing her feet down on the cold wooden floor – "Need to get the heating fixed," she muttered to herself – Rose stood up and walked over to the door, tying her dressing gown and trying to remember whether the Doctor had actually come to bed that night. She paused with her hand on the doorknob, staring into the darkness as she attempted to distinguish last night from all the other – frankly, wonderful – evenings that she had spent since coming back to this universe with the Doctor. Yes, yes he had definitely come to bed with her. They had both been very tired after spending all day and a bit of the night babysitting for her mum and dad – Tony was the most hyperactive child she had ever met. Rose was grateful that the Doctor had been there, or she might not have been able to keep up with him.

Smiling a little at her memories of the Doctor and Tony playing together, Rose opened the door and wandered into the living room, peering around in the gloom for the Doctor's familiar shape. Nothing. She frowned a little – Rose knew he wasn't in the bathroom, the door was open and the light off, and she could see into the tiny kitchen from here as well. No Doctor. Just as Rose was about to check the spare bedroom, a fluttering in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she realised why the flat was extra cold that night. The curtains were drawn over the doors that led out to the tiny balcony – the reason she had purchased this flat in spite of its hideous heating was the view – but she could just make out their shape in the darkness, flapping ever so slightly as the wind caught them.

Rose made her way over to the doors, trying not to knock into the coffee table on her travels, and dragged one heavy curtain aside, peeping around it and finding what she was looking for. The Doctor was sitting with his back against the hard brick wall, legs stuck through the balcony railings and bare feet dangling in mid air. He was wearing stripy pyjamas that reminded Rose of that Christmas that seemed so long ago. She recalled that actually her saying that was the reason that he had bought them – "they seemed to suit this body very well," he had said, and grinned at her before buying 3 or 4 pairs the same, a habit that she could not seem to wean him off of. His arms were crossed and Rose could tell just by looking that his fingers must be just about numb with cold. The Doctor had not looked up as Rose had appeared on the balcony next to him – in fact he had not moved a muscle, his eyes aimed slightly upwards at the clear sky, scattered all over with tiny dots that must have been so familiar to him, but just different enough to remind him that he was no longer in the universe that he had lived the whole of his (extremely long) life in.

**Next chapter should be up tomorrow, I'm very excited, I've never done a story with more than one chapter before :P Oh dear god I am so pathetic - but anyway, hope you enjoyed it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 is here! I am very excited :D I don't know why I ever write the Doctor crying, it just makes me cry - and there is more crying in chapter 3, I assure you.**

Just for a second Rose hesitated, not sure whether she wanted to intrude on this moment. She had expected behaviour like this from the very beginning of course, she had been surprised that it hadn't manifested earlier. The Doctor, a traveller for most of his life, now stuck here on Earth only able to stare at the stars, never again able to walk among them as he loved to do. As _they _loved to do.

Rose still missed their life on the TARDIS – she wondered if she should tell the Doctor that. It could help him, but it might make him worse. She had loved that life, but she would not give up having him here, with her, forever, for all the space travel and adventures in the world. She supposed, almost sheepishly, that she should have assured him of this right from the start –although she had hoped that the kiss on the beach would have alerted him to this fact.

But the last few weeks had just been Rose and the Doctor, as they'd always been – laughing and joking and holding hands, Rose taking the Doctor to Torchwood and being quite amused as he shocked all the staff with his space knowledge and made more progress in 10 seconds on some of their projects than they'd made in 3 years. They had eaten food and gone for walks and bought the Doctor clothes and shoes and a new pair of glasses. But they hadn't talked yet. Not _really _talked. If Rose had chosen a time and place for them to do this, it wouldn't have been on a freezing cold balcony at 2 in the morning – but when had the Doctor ever made this sort of stuff easy?

Rose was suddenly aware that she had been standing just outside the door for slightly too long without doing or saying anything. She took a deep breath and stepped forward, sitting down next to the Doctor but with her back to the railings, so that she was looking straight at him. She had considered just sitting next to him and holding his hand, but years working at Torchwood had taught her to be direct, and she would much rather be able to see the Doctor's face if they were going to do the "talking thing," as Mickey had once so charmingly put it. But looking straight at the Doctor's face bought Rose more than she bargained for, as she looked at his faraway eyes and saw the tears that were trapped there, being forced not to fall, she suspected, by the sheer determination of the half-human half-alien who did not want her to see him cry.

At that moment Rose knew that the Doctor knew that she had seen the tears in his eyes, but neither of them said anything. _Well that's just like us _Rose thought, _why address an obvious problem when you can ignore it, just say _I'm fine _and be really awkward about it? _It wasn't until one tear broke free and began to trickle down the Doctor's cheek that Rose could not hold it in any longer.

"What is it?" she just about whispered, almost afraid to hear the answer, trying not to put too much pressure on him to answer straight away. _The Time Lord needs time_, she thought to herself, as he opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out. "It's OK," she murmured, reaching forward and placing a hand on his pyjama clad leg, softly stroking the smooth material as she watched him flounder for an answer that just didn't seem to be there, "it's alright, I'm not going anywhere."

It took a few minutes of silence and comforting smiles from Rose before the Doctor attempted to answer again. When he spoke his voice was slightly hoarse, as though the words were having trouble emerging from his throat - "Just a bit overwhelmed, new human emotions and everything." His attempt at a smile was ridiculously unsuccessful, and Rose knew right this second that there was no way he was going to get out of this that easily. The only time she had ever seen him cry before was on Bad Wolf Bay, the first time around, and even then the tears had not had chance to fall before he had faded away. Before the Doctor could even trying for another sentence Rose had removed her hand from his leg and was staring at him, trying to catch his eyes which were still fixed on the night sky over her left shoulder.

"You know that's not gonna work on me, don't you? You do know that I'm not gonna accept that you, sitting out here on the balcony in the middle of the night, in the freezing cold, cryi-." Rose stopped herself, she was getting louder and louder and she forced herself to calm down before carrying on – "You do know that I'm not gonna accept that there is not something drastically wrong with you, and I'm willing to bet that you also know that I'm not gonna go until you tell me what's wrong with you. We never talk anyway, and I don't care if my hands and feet are getting frostbite, we are damn well going to talk now."

Rose fell silent after this speech, still staring at the Doctor – the ball was in his court now, he knew she wasn't leaving and he knew she wasn't accepting his typical Time Lord "I'm always alright" crap. For the first time his eyes seemed to focus. He dragged them away from the night sky and looked down at his own knees – it seemed that he was not ready to make eye contact with her yet. _Well, it's a start, _she thought as she watched him study his stripy pyjama trousers as though they were hiding an enormous secret – sort of the way that Rose must be studying him, she realised.

Yet again they lapsed into silence, not exactly awkward but a bit apprehensive, as though they were both waiting for something to happen, but were not sure what it was going to be.

"It's nothing that we can do anything about" – the Doctor spoke quietly, unfolding his arms and placing his ice-cold hands in his lap, studying them intently. For a moment Rose thought about reiterating what she had just said – that she wasn't going to buy that crap – but something in his tone stopped her. He really believed that there was nothing that either of them could do to make him feel better. Now Rose had never been the type to give up easily, she knew the Doctor knew this, and when she replied to his statement with "well we're just gonna have to try," she was pleased to see him glance up at her for the first time and, to her immense happiness, to see the traces of a smile at the corners of his mouth as he saw the determined expression on her face.

**Don't panic, it's going to get worse before it gets better but you have my word that this fic will end reasonably happily - I think if I split up the Doctor and Rose I would never let myself write again. Hope you enjoyed!**


	3. Chapter 3

**This story seems to be going quite slowly, but I always wanted to know how the Doctor reacted to the loss of his TARDIS, and also to see them really talk about what's going to happen between them. So it may take a bit of time, but I'll get there eventually...**

"So go on then," she said. And the Doctor was back to staring at his hands again. Rose had never seen him this quiet, and this awkward. Normally his awkwardness was covered with babbling, she had rarely ever known him to be this silent, although she had never not accepted the "I'm always alright" that inevitably followed any attempt to get him to open up.

"I just...inside my head, it's just like there's nothing." Rose didn't really understand yet, but she kept silent, letting him get his thoughts in order before he continued. "I thought that now I was part human it wouldn't be so bad. 'Cause you know Time Lords are telepathic, we always had this sort of sense of when there was another Time Lord around, we could talk using our minds and feel each other's emotions, it was just something that came naturally." Rose nodded at this – she had heard about – and seen – the Doctor's telepathic skills at various points when she had been on the TARDIS.

The Doctor took a deep breath and continued, halting and stuttering. "Well I was always alone inside my head after the Time War, there was no-one left in there to talk to, but here it's just-" He stopped for a second, rubbing his face with his hands before continuing. "Different universe, just feels like there's no-one left, and without the TARDIS—."

At the word TARDIS the Doctor's voice cracked, and Rose saw that the tears were back with a vengeance. He'd been running ahead of them, managing to explain this sudden sadness to her without the emotion dragging him down, but now they had caught up and Rose was transfixed at the sight of the Doctor's face, crumpling like a piece of paper as he reached up with his right hand to cover his face. Rose could hear sobs coming from underneath his hand and before she knew what she was doing her left hand was in his left hand, gripping it tighter than she would've thought possible. As she had suspected, his fingers were cold as ice, but they clung desperately to her own as if the Doctor could not bear to let her go, and Rose felt tears of her own springing into her eyes as she watched him try to control his grief.

Yet again they fell into mutual silence, barring the Doctor's quiet sobs which he was slowly bringing under control .Rose, for her part, did nothing apart from grip his hand with her own and blink furiously – it would not help the Doctor if she started crying as well. "It's the TARDIS, you see," said the Doctor, voice slightly muffled under his hand that still lay over his face. The fact that he had suddenly begun speaking had startled Rose, and she jumped a little, squeezing his hand a tighter. At this the Doctor removed his hand from his face, and Rose could see that his eyes, though red and a little puffy, were drier than they had been. She suspected that, now the Doctor had gotten control, they would actually begin to get somewhere with the talking. The thought of this terrified her slightly, but she made up her mind that they were going to talk – _really_ talk – before they went back to bed.

"She was always inside my head, with me – I was never really alone," he continued, running his free hand through his insane hair as he spoke, "I mean, she couldn't read all my thoughts all the time but...we were connected – Time Lord and TARDIS always are. And now it's—." Here he paused again, as if trying to find the right words. "It's like there's no connection any more, just nothing, and I've never been really alone in my own head before, without Time Lords or the TARDIS or anyone and—and it's just so lonely." Before she knew what she was doing Rose had shifted from sitting down to kneeling up, wrapping her arms around the Doctor and holding him tightly, feeling tears slipping from her eyes down onto his shoulder. _So much for not crying on him_ said a little voice inside her head, but the way the Doctor had spoken about feeling so alone has resonated with something deep inside her. It was how she had felt when she had first become trapped in this parallel world – there had been no-one else who understood the emptiness she felt without the Doctor, however hard they had tried to help her.

The Doctor's arms had closed around her, seemingly of their own accord, and they stayed liked that as the Doctor continued to explain. "It's not so bad in the daytime, when I'm with you and we're talking and having fun together – I suppose my brain is a bit more human now, if I'd been a full Time Lord who'd been cut off from his TARDIS like this I probably would have crumbled on the first day. But at night there's just nothing, even when I'm sleeping my mind feels so empty and I just don't know..."

As the Doctor trailed off into silence, Rose pulled away from him and looked into his eyes. They were captivating as ever, even out here in the gloom she could feel herself being drawn to them, just as she always had been. "I thought I had the best of both worlds," he whispered, so quietly Rose was almost unsure he had spoken. "I get to live one life as a human, but I still have my Time Lord brain and senses. But sometimes I wish I wasn't a Time Lord at all. Being the only one of anything is no fun. And here I am. A half-human. The only one in existence."

Rose stayed kneeling beside him, placing a hand on either side of his face so he could not look away from her. "Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked, almost regretting having said anything as she realised what might happen. If the Doctor could – if he wanted to – join his mind with hers or something, then she would do it. She would do anything to help the Doctor. But what if that meant that he could see all of her thoughts? She shuddered inwardly – the thought of the Doctor being able to see what she thought about him, especially in the last few weeks when they'd been sleeping in the same bed, made her feel slightly panicked.

"There's maybe something," the Doctor mumbled, sitting up a little straighter. Rose smiled a little at this – the Doctor was always happier when he had a plan. "But I'm not sure if I want to—"

"Why not?" blurted out Rose.

"Because if it doesn't work, and it doesn't take away the emptiness, then I've got no hope left. And I don't want to put that burden on you."

"Oh shut up," was Rose's instant reply, taking her hands from his face and raising an eyebrow at him, "if there's a chance I can help then you know I'll do it, so just tell me what it is."

**Next chapter should be up in a couple of days - hope you enjoyed it :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**So here's the next chapter, for your delectation and delight or something like that. Special thanks to DaughterOfTheFifthHouse for pointing out my bad grammar :P Sorry about that everyone, I tend to have a bit of a blind spot for punctuation - it all comes from thinking too fast and being a messy typist. **

The Doctor smirked a little at this, and with the slow movements of someone whose feet have gone to sleep from dangling off a balcony for too long, he drew his legs back through the railings and raised himself onto his knees, until they were sitting face to face, the brick wall on one side and the night sky on the other. "Well, if I can help you to take down the shields in your mind, then I'll be able to feel your mind with mine, and I won't feel so alone. It won't mean I can read your thoughts or anything," - it occurred to Rose that in saying that it seemed as though the Doctor was already reading her thoughts, but she didn't alert him to this fact – "I'll just be able to register your presence, and maybe feel when you have a particularly strong emotion, though over time you'll get used to it and it'll be harder to me to feel what you're feeling. It'll be the same for you, of course, you'll just be able to feel that my mind is there, and feel a bit of my emotion, but it won't hurt you or anything, the human mind has a few natural defences anyway but it should be easy enough to do and—"

The Doctor had been speaking faster and faster and Rose, feeling the need to stop him before he became unintelligible, had put her finger over his lips, smiling a little as she remembered their time in 2012 – "Fingers on lips!" The Doctor had shut up and was staring at her in a way that made her feel a little shy, like he was staring into her soul or something – those eyes could be very distracting when he wanted them to be.

"Well then, let's do it," said Rose firmly, wondering what on Earth she needed to do, hoping that the Doctor would be able to lead her through it. It occurred to her that the freezing cold balcony was probably not the best place to be doing this, but it felt as if they were in their own little world, just the two of them, and Rose did not want to break the spell by suggesting they move inside.

The Doctor took a deep breath, and placed a hand on the either side of Rose's face, unconsciously mirroring her movements from just a few minutes ago. His index and middle fingers on both hands were placed against her temples and he had closed his eyes, brow furrowing slightly in concentration. Rose slowly closed her eyes and was shocked by the sudden feeling of someone else's presence inside her head.

It didn't feel like an intrusion on her privacy, as she had thought it might. It just felt as though there was a comforting warmth emanating from the Doctor's mind as he carefully moved and prodded at her mind's defences, just enough to settle himself comfortably inside her head. Rose had never really thought about how her mind might look to someone else from the inside, but she was understanding now that it wasn't about seeing. She could not see the Doctor inside her head, but she could feel him there, feel his emotions as though she were a part of him – she supposed, maybe now, that she was.

"Now you've got to make the bridge with my mind" murmured the Doctor, and Rose was astonished to find that she could hear him inside her head, as well as right in front of her. She felt something shift inside her head, and she knew instinctively that it was the Doctor taking her into his mind.

Rose heard herself gasp, both inside and outside her head. Her own mind had felt comforting and warm, sort of like a room with a roaring fire and a comfy sofa on a cold winter's night. The Doctor's mind felt like a cathedral. Every thought she had seemed to echo and reverberate around her. It was just so empty - Rose could hardly bear it.

"How can you stand this?" she asked, feeling pain and sadness at the Doctor's loneliness, but magnified tenfold as she felt his emotions flowing through his mind and into her own. The Doctor did not answer, instead withdrawing her from his mind and dropping his hands from her face. Rose opened her eyes to see him staring at her, almost apprehensively. She was about to speak when she felt it – that pleasant warmth that she had felt when the Doctor had been inside her mind was still there, just gently sitting in the corner of her mind, like the glowing embers of a campfire. "Did it work? Can you feel that...that warm thing that I can feel?"

The Doctor smiled and nodded, and Rose nearly cried with happiness. It was his own smile, his proper smile with the sparkling eyes and the teeth that she loved, and before she knew what was happening she had leaned forward and kissed him. They had not kissed since that day at the beach, another thing that the Doctor had seemed quite awkward about and that Rose was determined to sort out before the night was over, but this kiss was better than that one by far. Rose leant into the Doctor, both hands finding their way over his shoulders, up the back of his neck and into his insane tangle of hair. The Doctor, for his part, did not show surprise if he had felt it, and wound his arms around her waist, pulling her to him until they were pressed tightly against each other.

The kiss was long and lingering, both of them enjoying the closeness and contentment just as much as the actual kissing (_well, maybe not quite as much_, thought Rose – the Doctor really was very good at this, though she would never inflate his ego by telling him so). A little voice at the back of Rose's head supposed that staying like this forever seemed like a very agreeable existence, and at that moment she was not inclined to object, simply pulling the Doctor even closer, if that were possible. At last they broke apart, realising that, without air, there was a possibility of the Doctor kissing Rose to death – yet again, Rose wondered whether she in fact would mind a death like that. She was aware that, on top of her own overjoyed feelings, she could detect that the warmth at the back of her mind had a distinctly happy and contented flavour to it now – the Doctor's feelings at that moment were almost as clear to her as her own. Not wanting to break this spell, but knowing that the trials of the night were hardly over, Rose sighed a little and looked the Doctor square in the eyes. "And now for the talking bit," she informed him, and the Doctor's eyes widened just a fraction. Rose smirked – she felt that way too, but there was no way she was going to let him know that.

"But—" started the Doctor.

"No. It's time Doctor, we are doing this now. Inside. Go."

Rose all but dragged him onto his feet and through the doors into the flat. He was _not _getting off that easily.

**It might take a little longer for the next chapter, I'm having a bit of a writer's block with regards to how the next bit's going to go. Thanks for all your reviews! Hope you're enjoying it, it might get a bit more fluffy as it goes on. You have been warned.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's chapter five, I know I could never end it on chapter five because it's an odd number - as a rule I don't really like odd numbers. Oneshots are alright, but I'd never like to end a fic on chapter 7 or something. Just a little insight into my warped mind for you. Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

"Rose, listen, I know you want to do this now but it's the middle of the night, can't we wait until tomorrow – well, later today I suppose it is now – to do this?"

Rose pushed her way through the curtains and closed the doors, locking them firmly and spinning around to see the Doctor standing slightly awkwardly just inside the doors, still looking a little bemused – presumably from the way she had shut him up and bundled him inside in a matter of seconds. "Well tough," she replied, taking him by the arm and leading him to the sofa. It was a corner sofa, the sort that bends at a right angle (for no apparent reason, Rose had often thought to herself) and, after shoving the Doctor down on it, she proceeded to sit down on the other side of the sofa, diagonally opposite him, the optimum position for talking in. Rose had purposefully sat just far enough away from the Doctor that she would have to make a conscious effort to reach forward and take his hand. She was worried that, if they sat right next to each other and held hands, just as they always did, it would feel so comfortable and normal that she would just back down. Rose was never going to let that happen – the Doctor was not going to win this one; he was not in charge any more.

Rose sat cross legged on the sofa, facing the Doctor, who was watching her, feet on the floor and one arm holding the other elbow, looking more unsure than Rose had ever seen him. It did occur to her that this was probably the first time in his 900 or so years that he had actually been forced to sit down, by someone who, if not at that moment, had once been a companion, and actually discuss plans and feelings and all those things that he usually ran top speed away from.

For the moment she remained silent, resting her elbows on her knees and her chin on her hands, taking the time to try and work out where she wanted to start. She was amused when the Doctor mimicked her actions by leaning his elbows on his knees, hands loosely clasped and head tilted slightly to the side as though trying to read her face. _Oh crap, _she suddenly thought, _new mind-link thing. _ The Doctor had said that it wouldn't be so bad after a while, but right now there was every chance he could read her emotions while she was still pondering what she was going to say. In a split second Rose had decided she just needed to come out and say it. It was one thing getting angry or frustrated or upset, but it was another thing knowing that the person you were talking knew this before it happened. If she was straight and honest with him now, then she would be fine. Why should she care if he knew she was angry _while_ she was shouting at him?

"I need to know what you want," was what materialised when Rose opened her mouth. For a moment she had to mull over her own words, thinking about what the Doctor would read into them, what he would think she wanted to hear, if he would tell her the truth. He hadn't moved when she spoke. He was still staring at her with those deep, dark eyes, still sparkling even in the gloom (Rose had not even thought about turning on the light, so the two of them were lit only by the dim light of the moon and the street lights filtering through the windows.)

"I don't mean that we need to have everything planned out," she finally continued, feeling the need to qualify what now seemed a very vague statement. "And I don't mean that I want you to lie to me and brush it off and blunder off into the next day's adventure," she added as he opened his mouth to reply. From the manner in which he closed it again Rose reckoned she had hit the nail on the head regarding what his answer would have been. A tiny smile flitted across her face – why did he even try any more, he knew she would never be fooled by that sort of stuff. To be honest she doubted any companion of his ever had been.

"So...so you want to know what I want concerning...us." The Doctor spoke slowly and carefully, weighing his words, but he was not asking a question. He knew what Rose was asking of him, he just seemed to be figuring out how to say it. "Well, the thing is, I just..." He trailed off, looking away for a moment then back at her. "Rose, what I said on the beach was true, and you know how I feel, I was in such a state after you left, I drove Martha half mad banging on about you and I just couldn't believe that you found me again, you're just so brilliant, you are! And I know that I'm never any good at...at really talking about anything, and I always a bit Time Lord and crazy whenever we, well you I suppose, whenever you tried to ask me about it, and I know that I'm not exactly...well not the exact same person that he was, I mean is, except that actually I really am, only without so much of the Time Lord crazy lobbed into the equation." This had all spewed out of the Doctor with barely a pause for breath, and as he stopped to consider his next sentence Rose found that she had stopped breathing along with him, and had to take a few gulps of air to get back to normal.

"Well, what I'm trying to say is that... that this is the me who can be with you, always. I loved you as a Time Lord, more than you probably ever guessed that I did, but the truth is that Time Lord me could never be with you properly. Not because I didn't want to, but you know me, Rose. You know me so well." He was smiling now, and Rose could feel her own lips mirroring his, like they always did, although she seemed to be coming dangerously close to tears as she listened to her wonderful Doctor baring his (less "Time Lord-crazy") soul for the first time.

"You know how I always told you that I couldn't age, but that you would, and you never cared. You were so brilliant and you just never cared. Bit stubborn at times, but still brilliant. And there was a part of me that was never happier than when you told me "forever." But there was another part of me that knew that I would never be able to let myself be happy with you for however short an amount of time we had. Even if you weren't killed by some alien or human, and believe me there were times when you came so close that I nearly locked you in the TARDIS—"

"And a couple of times you did," she reminded him without a trace of bitterness, more like amusement at the guilty expression that flared up and, though she couldn't see very well in the gloom, the tiniest blush over his cheeks. The Half-Human Time Lord – blushing! Rose wished that she had a camera.

"Yeah, sorry about that," continued the Doctor, sheepishly, "but even if you weren't killed, you were still growing older and I always knew that one day I would be alone without you, and I thought that it would kill me. Knowing you were still alive here is what kept me going; if you were dead I don't think I would've been able to. And leaving you on that beach was the hardest thing I could ever imagine – I know, 'cause we're the same person and I know how it felt for him – but it actually gave you, and me, the chance to be together as equals, and he wanted that more than keeping you to himself. He wanted to know that, somewhere out there, the Doctor and Rose Tyler are living a life, day after day, happy and together. And that is what I want, Rose Tyler. That is all I want."

Rose hadn't noticed that there were tears pouring down her cheeks until the Doctor fell silent, and she realised that he was a blur, concealed by all the yet unshed tears that were collecting in her eyes. She wiped them on her pyjama sleeve, using the momentary break from his piercing gaze to try and figure out how on Earth she was ever going to reply to that.

"Well, that's, um...good to know," she mumbled into her sleeve, feeling more than seeing the smile that had appeared on his face on hearing her less than eloquent reply. He reached over, taking one of her hands in both of his and holding it tightly between them. As it turned out, this gesture of comfort and friendship and love, on top of the Doctor's wonderful confession that was more than she could ever have hoped for, was just too much to bear, and in a second she had flung herself at the Doctor, arms around his neck so tightly he could barely breathe.

The force of a Rose flying at him was also too much for the Doctor, and the two of them were flung backwards until the Doctor was lying on his back on the sofa, Rose wrapped around him as if she was not going to let go. The Doctor's arms swiftly wrapped around her waist, squeezing her to him, his face buried in her hair, and for a few moments that was all that mattered, the two of them together, in that room on that sofa feeling each other's total joy in the back of their minds and not needing anything else in the entire universe.

That is until Rose pulled away from the Doctor, looking down into his ecstatic face and grinning, almost evilly the Doctor thought. "There'll be time enough for this later," she said, sitting up and dragging him with her until she was sitting in his lap, arms still wrapped around him, "now we need to talk about what I want." The Doctor's expression seemed to go through a number of different stages, settling on a cross between amusement and mischief. Rose was glad to see that this was his reaction to her little test, and she felt almost smug as she gave him a sweet smile before deftly sliding off of his lap to sit next to him, slipping her hand into his as she did so.

The Doctor sighed very quietly as he realised there was still a lot of talking yet to be done. He was not sure if it was the Human part of him talking, but he had been sincerely hoping that what Rose wanted would have turned out to be what it was that there would apparently be "time enough for" later.

**Next chapter might be the last one - haven't decided yet. Or maybe I have and I just like keeping you in suspense... nope, just haven't really decided yet. Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for all the reviews!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, this is it, the last chapter. I told you I'd stop on an even number :) I've loved writing this, it's good to get all those Tentwo/Rose feelings out.**

"Well, go on then," the Doctor said after a moment, lifting their clasped hands into his lap and examining her fingers in an attempt at nonchalance that did not fool Rose for a second. "I presume you feel the same way I do about what I said, otherwise that whole jumping on me thing just confused me about your motives, Rose Tyler."

Rose grinned as she always did when he said her name in this way, stretching it out a little as though just being able to say it to her was something that made him feel exceedingly happy. "Yep, definitely agreed with that," was her only reply, smiling a smile that was almost shy as she watched him study her hand, entwined as it was with his own.

"So, well it's..." Rose stopped and started again – if she didn't start this right then she wasn't going to be able to continue to the end. "Well we both know that you love me and I love you, and we want to be together. Forever, yeah, just like we always used to say."

The Doctor smiled at this, lifting his eyes for a moment to look at her, remembering all the times she had reminded him of how long she wanted to stay with him. "But before, we were in love but we were never really...together, you know? It didn't really matter then I suppose, but now we're on Earth and we've got forever and it does, I guess." Rose gulped and tried to sort the next part in her head – it made sense in there, she wanted to make sure it did when it came out of her mouth.

"We can't keep on having that thing that we had on the TARDIS. Because, as much as I loved that, being together with a person that you love means more than holding hands and hugging." The Doctor raised an eyebrow at this, looking up at her in such a way that Rose was halfway between laughing at him and kissing him (_I swear this must be the human in him, _she thought as she regained her composure, _he was always flirty before, but this sort of stuff – he was never very clear about his policies on..dancing_.) "Not just that," she reminded him, a smile shining on her face for a moment, before she stared down at her knees again – it seemed easier to do this without looking at him.

"I mean all those normal things – you know, sharing a flat, having a job, cooking food and going out and getting ma-. Well, doing all those normal _domestic_ things, God, if the old you could hear me saying this he'd have a fit. The Doctor being domestic! Hell would freeze over first!"

They both laughed at this, voices mingling together as they remembered how they used to be back then. Both of them had changed so much (one much more physically than the other), and the idea of "Old Big Ears," as the Doctor affectionately called him, being tied down with a flat and a job was really a very amusing one.

"Don't think it's going to be boring," Rose continued, leaning her head on his shoulder as she talked, "I mean, we'll both still be at Torchwood, and there'll be aliens and invasions and loads of running and we'll probably end up in loads of different parts of the world but...that sort of stuff, it's just not as important as us being together."

The Doctor looked as though he thought that she was downplaying the excitement of running away from killer aliens, so Rose qualified her last statement before he had time to protest. "Look, Doctor, I've had a life with you, and I've had a life with aliens and running and invasions _without_ you, so I know what I'm talking about. I would rather have you than have all the adventures in the world, although knowing you all the adventures in the word will be arriving on our doorstep – you do seem to attract a hell of a lot of trouble."

"Oi, what about you, Miss Jeopardy Friendly!" the Doctor retorted, elbowing her in the side as she giggled.

"Yeah OK, maybe some of that's my fault. But do you understand, Doctor? You know what I mean, don't you?"

The Doctor stared at her face. She was biting her lip, and she had taken her hand back from his, twisting her fingers in her lap as she waited for his answer. "Rose," he almost whispered, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her against him, "you know that I am not just going to go gallivanting off everywhere and not bother with any of this other stuff. You know I don't know much about living like a proper human, but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to learn it, that I'm not going to live it all with you. We've got the Torchwood work to give us our fill of excitement, but I want all that other stuff too. Of course I do, how could I not want it, now I've finally got the chance to live a life like this?"

Rose smiled, relief and joy flooding through her, and she kissed him and hugged him and clung so tightly that it seemed to the Doctor there was no way she was ever going to let go this time. But he returned her hug with equal force, and somehow they found themselves lying side by side on the sofa. The Doctor held Rose in his arms and sighed, knowing that more words were not needed at this point in time. They both knew what the other wanted – it appeared that the "talking thing" could actually work wonders if you bothered to give it a go.

So there they lay, cuddled together on Rose's sofa, arms and legs tangled together. It occurred to Rose's sleepy mind that one turn would cause both of them to fall off the sofa in a disgruntled, sleepy heap but, as always, logic could not make any impression on her at that time – sleep and happiness had taken her over, and logic had no place in such a wonderful moment.

Being able to actually spend a life with the Doctor had always seemed too good to be true, at least, it had after she had stopped being angry at him for leaving her there. But this was even better – she knew that this was what she wanted (not the lying on the sofa bit, the bed was really much more comfortable), being together with the Doctor. Growing up and growing old together, having the best bits of both of their worlds, living the adventure that the Doctor had once said he could never have.

She rubbed her cheek on his pyjama top, her head finding a comfortable pillow on his chest, and his fingers pulled through her tangled hair as each got used to the feeling of the other being a part of them. The sun was just beginning to think about rising outside, the sky was just beginning to turn from deep midnight blue to a paler navy colour, fading into light blue-grey as the pair drifted gently into unconsciousness.

At least until the Doctor flung his arm over Rose's back, rolling to his left and over-balancing them. A loud thump and a confused cry of pain echoed through the flat, and the Doctor just had enough sense to prop himself up on his elbows to avoid crushing Rose to death. She wasn't weak by any standards, but even a skinny half human-Time Lord can hurt when he lands on your chest.

Rose groaned, eyes flickering half open, looking so sleepy and confused that the Doctor would have sworn she was still dreaming, had she not immediately began to speak to him.

"Look Doctor, this is fun and all, but if I am sleep-deprived tomorrow then you are going to bear the brunt of it, understood?"

"Yes ma'am." The Doctor shifted his weight onto one arm to give Rose a quick salute, before deftly jumping off her and scooping her up into his arms.

"What? What are you doing, what?!" The Doctor grinned that infuriatingly smug grin at her, clearly taking pleasure in her sleepy confusion.

"What, were you going to sleep on the floor all night? Come on, we're going to bed." And he carried her across the room, into the bedroom that, he supposed, really belonged to both of them now. He placed her down carefully on the bed, not even bothering to get up and shut the door as he lay down beside her, curling himself around her and pulling the blankets up over them both in one swift movement.

He had not felt so contented since they had arrived in this world, and the Doctor knew that it was all because of Rose. He could feel her presence in his mind, contented and full of love, and he rejoiced in the fact that his head no longer felt like an empty cave.

Knowing that he would never again feel alone in his own head, the Doctor slept better than he could ever remember sleeping, keeping Rose close beside him even while unconscious. Rose awoke late the next morning with the Doctor's arms wrapped firmly around her, his head resting on her shoulder as he slept.

She smiled at his sleeping face, slipped out of bed and got a drink before climbing back in beside him. Rose snuggled back down into her pillow, ready for a bit more much needed sleep, turning her head towards the Doctor and staring at his face as he slept. She reached over, found his arms and wrapped them around her again, comforting and warm and safe like they always were. Like they always would be, from now on. The Doctor and Rose had finally found each other, and it appeared as though neither of them were ever going to let go of each other again.

The End.

**And finished! I hope you liked it. Hoping to start another multi-chapter story soon, I tend to just write oneshots but I enjoyed this one so much I really want to write more! Thanks for reading, and thanks for the reviews - I love you all!**


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